Saturday, July 18, 2015

Excavations being conducted at the ancient city of Göbeklitepe in Turkey have uncovered an ancient pictograph on an obelisk which researchers say could be the earliest known pictograph ever discovered.

A pictograph is an image that conveys meaning through its resemblance to a physical object. Such images are most commonly found in pictographic writing, such as hieroglyphics or other characters used by ancient Sumerian and Chinese civilizations. Some non-literate cultures in parts of Africa, South America and Oceania still use them.

“The scene on the obelisk unearthed in Göbeklitepe could be construed as the first pictograph because it depicts an event thematically” explained Director of the Şanlıurfa Museum, Müslüm Ercan, to the Hurriyet Daily News. Ercan is leading the excavation at Göbeklitepe. “It depicts a human head in the wing of a vulture and a headless human body under the stela. There are various figures like cranes and scorpions around this figure. This is the portrayal of a moment; it could be the first example of pictograph. They are not random figures. We see this type of thing portrayal on the walls in 6,000-5,000 B.C. in Çatalhöyük [in modern-day western Turkey].”

The ‘Vulture-Stone’. Credit: Alistair Coombs

The artifacts discovered in the ancient city have provided information about ancient burial traditions in the area in which bodies were left in the open for raptors such as vultures to consume. According to Mr Ercan, this enabled the soul of the deceased to be carried into the sky. It was called “burial in the sky” and was depicted on the obelisks in Göbeklitepe. Such rituals were conducted in and around the city around 12,000 years ago.Many of the items discovered on the site have not been seen before anywhere else in the world and thus are the first of their kind to be discovered.

Göbeklitepe is situated on the top of a hill about 15 kilometres away from Sanliurfa in South-eastern Turkey. The city can be dated back to 10,000 BC and consists of a series of circular and oval shaped structures that were first excavated by Professor Klaus Schmidt supported by the German Archaeological Institute. Schmidt travelled to the site having heard about it from accounts of other previous visitsby anthropologists from the University of Chicago and Istanbul University in the 1960’s. Both institutions ignored the site, believing it to be nothing more than a medieval graveyard.

Artifacts found on the site indicate that the city was intended for ritual use only and not as a domain for human occupation. Each of the 20 structures consists of a ring of walls surrounding two T-shaped monumental pillars between 3 metres (9 feet) and 6 metres high (19 feet) and weighing between 40 and 60 tons.

Enormous T-shaped pillars at Göbeklitepe. Credit: Alistair Coombs

Archaeologists believe these pillars are stylised representations of human beings because of the human appendages carved into the stone. These images are accompanied by those of animals including foxes, snakes, wild boars, cranes and ducks.

The archaeologists believe Göbeklitepe was used as a religious centre. Geo-radar work has revealed evidence of 23 temple structures in the area. Two of the obelisks in the city were constructed in the form of a letter T and are positioned opposite each other within a circle of smaller, round obelisks.

Ercan said that the museum at Şanlıurfa contains a small sculpture of a pig that was discovered in front of the central stelas in the ‘C’ temple at Göbeklitepe. Such statues may have depicted sacred beings.

Work on the basic infrastructure of a roof to cover the site and help preserve its structures and artefacts has just been completed, ready for the construction of the roof itself. This is an EU project and the archaeologists aim to complete it in eight months’ time. Watch also:

Over the last couple of centuries, many individuals have claimed to visit other planets through astral projection or through secret, possibly alien, technology. Since the 1970s, most alien stories have been about small gray men abducting humans but usually staying on Earth, which seems a pity. Here are 10 examples of people who claimed to explore other worlds.The Denton Family

Nineteenth-century Englishman William Denton claimed that the power of psychometry (divining facts about an object or its owner through physical contact) allowed members of his family to visit the various planets of the solar system. His first psychometric experiments involved the use of geological samples to view images of the Earth’s distant past. His wife, Elizabeth, reportedly saw a vision of a giant prehistoric insect after touching a piece of quartz. His sister, Anne Cridge, envisioned an eruption into the sea after touching a fragment of volcanic lava. The family would later turn their psychometric powers to the heavens. Denton’s son, Sherman, reportedly visited Venus and described giant trees shaped like mushrooms filled with sweet jelly and a creature resembling a cross between a fish and a muskrat.

He visited Mars, peopled by a race with four fingers, yellow hair, and wide, blue eyes who flitted around in aluminum flying machines. Mrs. Cridge and Mrs. Denton also visited Mars and described their art, culture, and religion in detail. Jupiter, meanwhile, was also peopled by blue-eyed blondes, but these people could float in the air, and their women wore braids down to their waists.Emanuel Swedenborg

The Swedish philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg believed the universe was filled with other planets inhabited by humans (though spiritual beings). He claimed to have been guided by God and an angel through spiritual tours of Heaven, Hell, and the cosmos. Through the Lord, he was able to commune with spirits, not just of this world but also of others. Swedenborg’s voyage through the solar system was a spiritual journey, but he came back armed with knowledge of our neighbors. Men of the Moon were described as dwarfs about the size of a seven-year-old boy, though stouter in stature and with thunderous voices. Mercurians resembled Earthlings and wore tight clothing. They were also hungry for knowledge, able to read memories from approaching individuals, and counted Aristotle as one of their population. The inhabitants of Venus were divided into two groups, one peaceful and gentle, the other fierce thieves.

Martians resembled humans of various hues without facial hair, lived in perfect communes (wrong thinkers being exiled), wore clothes made from tree bark, and were apparently the best people in the universe. The inhabitants of Jupiter were upright, soft-spoken, happy, and family-oriented people with an obsession with washing their faces and a tendency to walk on their hands. Finally, Saturnians were restrained, humble people with low self-esteem. They had little interest in food and clothing. Rather than burying their dead, they would cover them with leaves. Swedenborg never got around to visiting the other planets of the solar system through the angels, perhaps because they hadn’t been discovered yet by other Earthlings.Howard Menger

UFO contactee and alleged reincarnated Saturnian Howard Menger claimed to have been taken on joyrides through the solar system on a flying saucer. His interaction with aliens began at the age of 10 when a mysterious woman in the forest told him he was chosen and destined for great things. He had intermittent contact during his service in the Pacific War, but after leaving the army he spent a lot of time helping visitors from Venus and Mars blend in with Earth clothing—the women apparently had trouble with high heels and rejected bras entirely. Later he would remember he was actually the reincarnated spirit of a Saturnian man named Sol du Naro, who occupied the body of a dead one-year-old named Howard Menger at the end of a wonderful relationship with a Venusian woman. He claims the beings and civilizations on Venus and Saturn vibrate at a higher frequency than those on Earth, rendering their bodies more tenuous and often invisible to us.

He described beautiful suburbs with redwood trees on Venus, unfamiliar animals, and people walking around in pastel clothing. He would also take a trip to the Moon after receiving a lunar potato containing over 15 percent protein from a contact in Philadelphia. The lunar trip would require a week and a half of atomic processing in order to exist on the Moon’s “expression of reality.” On arrival, Menger reported beautiful pearl-shaped aerodromes, women in gowns offering refreshments, floating trains, and a number of Russian, German, and Japanese tour groups. He even reported a huge, crashed, bullet-shaped vehicle, said to be the remains of an exploratory vessel from another world.

Back on Earth, later in life he recanted his story, blaming it all on a CIA mind experiment, only to re-recant back to his original story in the 1980s.

Captain Kaye

In 2014, an alleged whistleblower named Captain Kaye claimed he had spent 17 of his 20 years in the military on Mars, protecting five civilian colonies. He claims he was recruited into the Mars Defense Force (MDF) from a covert branch of the US Marine Corps called “Special Section,” although the MDF apparently recruits from a number of different military branches.

The main human colony on Mars is Aries Prime, built in the middle of a crater. Captain Kaye reports Mars has a breathable atmosphere and occasionally balmy climate. His mission was to defend the human colonies from the two indigenous races, a reptilian race and an insectoid race, aggressive in defense but not expansionist, usually content to leave the MDF and Mars Colony Corporation alone. Things took a turn toward the end of his service as all human military personnel were ordered to retrieve a sacred reptilian artifact from a cave. The ensuing battle killed almost 1,000 personnel and left only 27 survivors.

Captain Kaye said he hopes his testimony will bring to light the breakaway human civilization on Mars, and he has been backed up by Michael Relfe, who also claims his 20 years of service included covert operations on the red planet. Laura Magdalene Eisenhower, who claims to be the great granddaughter of the President, also claimed attempts were made to recruit her for the Mars colony.

In 2015, Captain Kaye’s real name was revealed to be Randy Cramer, who gave further details such as the Moon landing being a cover for extensive operations on the Moon in the 1950s and Mars in the 1960s, and the US Marines “Special Section” being set up by President Eisenhower as a counterweight to Majestic-12.

Sackville G. Leyson

In 1906, Utah’s Emery County Progress published an article about a recent trip to Mars by Sackville G. Leyson, president of Society for Psychical Research, via psychic projection. He described Mars as a big globe of molten fire surrounded by bloodred clouds mixed with others of greenish hue. He described two tribes of native Martians, both naked, covered in fur. The difference between them was that “one [was] so large I only came up to their knees and the other [was] so small that they only came up to my knees.” The larger species was described as possessing huge ears, a lion’s nose, a large eye in the middle of the forehead, and lungs that expanded crosswise rather than up and down. They lived in rock houses.

The smaller species was described as web-footed creatures able to slide across moss and scale walls, with eyes in their temples and two holes in their cheeks to make up for their lack of a nose. They lived in holes under the ground. He also reported rubber trees, a substance resembling snow that wasn’t cold and was soft to walk on, and “men working with some sort of machine which was guiding lights across transparent rocks. The rays seemed to be reflected clear to the atmosphere on earth.” Given the fact there isn’t much evidence Sackville G. Leyson actually existed, it’s most likely the entire account was fabricated by the Emery County Progress as a satire of astral projection and contemporary theories of life on other planets.Ingo Swann And Harold Sherman

Remote viewers Ingo Swann and Harold Sherman allegedly undertook psychic journeys to Mercury and Jupiter, just ahead of the Pioneer 10 space probe. Mercury was allegedly filled with rainbows and had a thin atmosphere and a water-dwelling form of lichen-like lifeforms living on rocks. Jupiter was said to have a bitter cold atmosphere of swirling colors and tornados, as well as a 9,000-meter-high (30,000 ft) mountain range. Evaluations of the accuracy of the remote viewing were decidedly mixed. Doctors Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff thought Swann and Sherman’s reports compared favorably with data received from the Mariner 10 and Pioneer 10 research spacecraft.

Isaac Asimov, on the other hand, determined some 46 percent of the remote viewers’ observations were wrong, and only one out of every 65 observations made weren’t either immediately obvious or available in standard scientific textbooks. Swann would later theorize the astral viewing was simply so fast they actually ended up observing a gas giant in a different solar system altogether. Carl Sagan was even more damning, sarcastically calling the pair “two courageous American mystics” and their results “dreadful—sort of vague remembrances of sixth-grade general science.”

Dana Howard

Contactee Dana Howard wrote a number of books describing her experiences on Venus, including My Flight to Venus (1954), Diane: She Came From Venus(1956), Over the Threshold (1957), and Vesta, the Earthborn Venusian (1959). She allegedly made first contact with a 250-centimeter-tall (8′) Venusian woman named Diane in 1936.

“Her head was radiant with a crown of fire, strands of golden hair cascading gently over her beautiful, slightly olive-tinted shoulders. The strange mystic light flooding her dark, prophetic eyes, added a wistful something to all her other charms . . . ‘Have no fears, Child of Earth,’ she intoned. ‘Let the doors of your mind be opened and we of the faraway planets will speak to you in poetry and song.’ “

Howard then entered a space ship made of translucent materials with gold trimming and gem studs. Then the mysterious woman disappeared, and Dana Howard was swept off on a trip to Venus.

She would later encounter the Venusian Diane again when she materialized at a seance in Los Angeles in 1955, telling Howard she would help her write about her experiences on Venus then dancing a kind of undulating waltz. In her works, written with Diane as muse no doubt, Howard detailed Venusian medicine as the manipulation of life essence, which resembled a spider’s web in white with a slight blue tint. She also wrote of their technology, teleportation achieved through vibration of matter through thought. Later, she would describe having married and raised children on the Second Planet.

George Adamski

In 1952, Polish immigrant George Adamski and some friends went into the Mojave Desert to look for UFOs. There they saw a gigantic, cigar-shaped craft and chased after it. The cigar craft rocketed into space, and Adamski was left alone when another, smaller craft appeared and a man appeared about 40 meters (130 ft) away, beckoning Adamski. He was a beautiful 160-centimeter-tall (5’3”) man with long, blonde hair and tanned skin, wearing a brown one-piece suit with a broad belt and red shoes. After shaking hands with Adamski, he opened telepathic contact and said his name was Orthon, he was from Venus, and he came to warn the Earth about the dangers of nuclear energy.

This was only Adamski’s first encounter. He would later claim to visit the Moon (where he reported “billions and billions of fireflies . . . flickering everywhere,” as well as cities, forests and snow-capped mountains) and Mars and Venus, where he enjoyed banquets with local inhabitants. He went there aboard bell-shaped flying saucers piloted by Nordic space brothers and took a number of photographs of the craft. His claims made him famous as the first well-known contactee, but some say his successful books about journeys through the solar system were merely a re-hash of Pioneers of Space, a science fiction book Adamski wrote through a ghost writer, and that much of his other evidence was faked.

Orfeo Angelucci

Believing mold to be a negative form of life leeching off living matter through a subtle process of mutation, Lockheed Corporation aviation employee Orfeo Angelucci decided to attempt an experiment in 1952, sending 18 samples ofAspergillus clavatus mold into the upper atmosphere to test structural changes in their growth. As fate would have it, the balloons broke away prematurely and the mold samples were lost, but by happy coincidence his mishap was noticed by a passing Neptunian spacecraft. His father-in-law first noticed the circular craft, which followed the balloons as they floated away.

Angelucci had a second encounter six weeks later when an oval object glowing red appeared in front of his car as he returned from work. It issued two balls of green fire which told him they were friends and to get out of his car. When he did, a man and woman of “ultimate perfection” appeared and told him he was of very special interest to the aliens surveying Earth. He would later encounter a dashing flying saucer pilot named Neptune who told him secrets of the universe and warned him of the dangers of Communism, and another handsome humanoid named Adam, who over steak dinner turned Angelucci’s glass of water into delicious space nectar by means of an effervescent white pellet.

After being brought to an alien world via flying saucer, Angelucci remembered having lived there before in a previous life on the world and that his original name was also Neptune. The world was apparently a remnant of the shattered planet Lucifer, once the most radiant planets in the universe, which had turned against the etheric beings of the “Father” or “Source.” He would also meet Jesus Christ, whom he revealed to be an infinite entity from the Sun, and witnessed the end of the world, which would happen in 1986 if humanity didn’t mend its ways. Good thing we got on that.Rael

In 1973, French racing car journalist Claude Vorilhon reported a dramatic encounter with a humanoid alien named Yahweh at the Puy de Lassolas volcano park, who told him the secrets of the Elohim, the alien creators of the human race. Yahweh told him he was his real father, and bestowed him with the name Rael. In 1975, Rael claimed to have been taken to the planet of the Elohim (and the nearby planet of the Eternals, where humans live for 700 years before being cloned from a single cell taken prior to death) via flying saucer, stopping along the way for a massage and aromatherapy treatment at the outskirts of our solar system. Suitably refreshed, he arrived on the planet and met his half-brothers Jesus, Muhammad, and Buddha. While there, he was tempted by an Eloah named Satan, who told him Yahweh’s plan for enlightening the human race was doomed to failure and made a counter-offer of billions of dollars in a Swiss bank account if Rael would help carry out a plan of final cataclysm through worldwide racial war.

Rael demurred, saying that saving humanity was more important than riches and power, which was smart because it turned out the whole thing was a test by Yahweh to see if Rael was truly worthy. Rael was then shown the facilities making immortal biological robots, where they made a copy of Rael’s mother and a host of attractive young females before returning to Rael’s apartment for a party. Before returning him to Earth, Yahweh used a helmet-like machine to maximize Rael’s intellectual faculties—which probably had nothing to do with the fact he brought a clone robot of his mother to a sex party.

Truman Bethurum

Truman Bethurum almost doesn’t fit this list because he never did get to visit another planet, but he really could’ve been a contender. In 1952, the night shift maintenance mechanic finished work at 3:30 AM and drove out to a hillside called Mormon Mesa to look for seashells from the ancient sea that once covered the area. After a search, he fell asleep in his truck only to be awoken by “a mumbling, low talking in an unintelligible tongue.” His truck was surrounded by 8 to 10 short men, all olive-skinned, clean-shaven with black hair, appearing to be of Latin extraction. They were wearing leather jackets and what appeared to be Greyhound bus drivers’ uniforms.

Bethurum got out of his truck to greet them and immediately noticed the flying saucer hovering nearby. After shaking hands with the saucer crew and realizing they spoke English, Bethurum was taken aboard and introduced to their captain, the bewitching Aura Rhanes, who had a complexion of “a beautiful olive and roses,” wore a black beret over her short hair, and spoke to Bethurum in rhyming couplets. When he returned to his hotel, Bethurum wrote a note: “If I am found dead in my bed, it will be because my heart has stopped from the terrible excitement induced by seeing and going aboard a flying saucer!”

As it happened, Bethurum would be taken aboard the flying saucer another 11 times. He discovered that the visiters hailed from the planet Clarion, hidden on the far side of the Moon, and their saucer was made from the finest Martian steel. On their planet, there was no disease, divorce, war, or social unrest, and everyone lived to the age of 1,000. There was also no liquor or tobacco. He was told that mankind would never get into space until they ended strife and war.

Back on Earth, Bethurum would become popular on the UFO enthusiast circuit with speaking engagements and television interviews like NBC’s Betty White Show, eventually forming a religious group known as the Sanctuary of Thought. His wife divorced him out of jealousy of Aura Rhanes, although Bethurum was never able to take it further with her, nor did he ever get to planet Clarion. His last signals to the flying saucer went unanswered, and the last time he saw Aura Rhanes was in a restaurant in Los Angeles, were she was drinking a glass of orange juice and ignoring him. He never saw his space friends again. Maybe the fame had gone to his head, and they abandoned him. We may never know.Source: http://listverse.com/

EXCLUSIVE! Special Live Interview with Alex Mistretta! He is one of the few full time professional investigators in field. He is the former MUFON Los Angeles Director of Investigations and a former member of MUFON's Star Team. He is currently the Director of Investigations for U.P.A.R.S.Watch also:

Not far from the city of Chengdu in Sichuan Province, China, sits the Leshan Giant Buddha statue. Carved into the side of Mt. Lingyun, the colossal statue is over 1,300-years-old and is considered to be the largest stone Buddha in the world, and by far the tallest pre-modern statue. The site attracts millions of people every year, including Buddhist pilgrims, making it something of a sacred destination and an ancient wonder of the world.

A statue honoring Maitreya

The Leshan Giant Buddha statue (also known as Dafo), is located to the east of Leshan City and sits at the junction of three rivers; the Min River, Qingyi River, and Dadu River. It faces the sacred Mount Emei with the rivers flowing below its feet and depicts a stout, smiling monk, calmly sitting, resting his hands upon his knees with heavy-lidded eyes gazing across the river. The statue is believed to be Maitreya, a Buddha and disciple of Sakyamuni, who is thought to have been the founder of Buddhism, symbolizing brightness and happiness.

Worshiping Maitreya was especially popular between the 4th and 7th Centuries. Today, images of him can still be found in many Buddhist temples throughout China and the Leshan statue is considered the most inspiring of them all.

The architecture of the Leshan Giant Buddha

The appeal of the Buddha lies not only in its size but in its architectural craftsmanship. The entire statue is made of stone, except for the ears which were crafted out of wood, then affixed, and covered with clay. The Buddha’s hair is arranged in special spiraled curls with 1,021 twists that have been skillfully embedded in the head.

The statue is ten stories high, and if the statue stood upright, it would be almost eye to eye with the Statue of Liberty. The Buddha is so enormous that it is alleged that 100 monks could sit on one foot. Measuring 71 meters tall (233 feet), the statue has a symmetrical posture, creating a gracefully relaxed image. Its head is 15 meters (50 feet) high, its shoulders 28 meters (92 feet) wide, and its smallest toenail can accommodate a seated person. Each eyebrow alone is 5.5 meters (18 feet) while its nose is 6 meters (20 feet) long. A large pair of ears, measuring seven meters (23 feet), is capable of holding two people inside.

The ingenious system of water drainage

Several drainage passages hidden inside the Buddha's hair, collar, chest, and back of the ears, have prevented the statue from serious erosion and weathering over the millennia. The drainage system of the Giant Buddha is a complex system made up of hidden gutters and channels, which carry away rainwater and keep the inner parts dry. This is why the great Buddha has survived intact up until modern times. Compared to when it was initially completed, the statue looks quite different from how it looks today. It once sat in a grand 13-story wooden pavilion which protected the carving from erosion. However, the pavilion was eventually destroyed at the end of the Ming Dynasty, exposing the statue to the elements.

The Origins of Dafo

The Leshan Giant Buddha statue is said to have been built to calm the turbulent waters that plagued passing boats and killed many people each year. So, in the Tang Dynasty, a monk named Hai Tong, decided to carve a giant statue beside the river, hoping it would appease the river gods and save more local people’s lives. With this belief, the Hai Tong Monk begged for 20 years to acquire enough funds to begin his work. According to legend, when some local government officials wanted to get large amounts of money from Hai Tong, he said they could have his eyeball but not the money raised for the Buddha statue. When government funding for the project was threatened, the monk is said to have gouged out his own eyes to show his sincerity and devotion to the cause. The officials were scared away, and Hai Tong saved the money and started the project in 713 AD. The project was half finished when he passed away and two of his disciples were left to continue the work. The project was finally completed 90 years later by the local governor in 803 AD. Since so much stone was removed from the cliff face and deposited into the river below during the construction, the currents of the rivers were, in fact, altered by the statue, making the waters safe for passing ships.

The Leshan Giant Buddha: A Museum of Buddhist Carvings

As the biggest carved stone Buddha in the world, Dafo is featured in Chinese poetry, song and story. For the ancient Chinese, building a statue of this size and stature was a way of thanking their gods. Even after its completion, people continued to carve Buddhas, small ones, all around this massive statue. On the cliffs beside the Giant Buddha, there are two carved stone warriors in battle robes, holding a halberd (a combined spear and battle-ax). Besides the Giant Buddha, are thousands of other carved Buddhas, making the mountain a museum of Buddhist carvings. Han Dynasty cliff tombs have also been found at the site and there is an onsite temple and shrine dedicated to Hai Tong near the Buddha. Mortuary artifacts have been found here as well making this area particularly important for archaeologists.

UNESCO grants Dafo World Heritage Status

Today, erosion is the biggest threat to the Leshan Giant Buddha’s survival. The statue was nearly destroyed by the erosion of wind and rain before 1963, when the Chinese government began repair work and protection. In 1996, the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO inscribed the Mount Emei Scenic area and the Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area on their World Heritage List as a mixed cultural and natural property of the world. Since 2001, it has been rumored that the equivalent of over 40 million U.S. dollars has been spent to keep it intact.

Featured Image: Leshan Giant Buddha is the world's largest stone-carved Buddha (Wikimedia Commons)